The Second Night Fury
by Loonaticslover13
Summary: "Hiccup refuses to accept that Toothless is the last Night Fury, and that the breed will die out. Willing to stop at nothing, he goes on a search, with the others, for another Night Fury. In a storm, the group is separated and Hiccup wakes up to find himself on Outcast Island with Astrid...and no Toothless. Will he, his friends, Toothless and the Night Fury get home? HiccupAstrid
1. On Outcast Island

The Second Night Fury

_"Hiccup refuses to accept that Toothless is the last Night Fury, and that the breed will die out. Willing to stop at nothing, he goes on a search, with the others, for another Night Fury. In a storm, the group is separated and Hiccup wakes up to find himself on Outcast Island with Astrid...and no Toothless. Determined to get home, he will do whatever it takes to get off the island safely, and with an enormous amount of luck, wit the second Night Fury in tow. But will he succeed?" HiccupXAstrid ToothlessX? First fic for HTTYD._

* * *

**"There are some things you can't control, and some things you can. Funnily enough, often the circumstances we can't change are the ones we want to change the most. Some people will think its impossible. And sometimes, it really does seem that way."**

Hiccup sighed, flicking his pencil up his desk with his index finger, only to watch it roll back down. He flicked it up again, his head resting on his crossed forearms that were on the desk, and stared at vaguely at the drawings posted above with nails in the corners. Most depicted saddles, or other mechanical things, or little scribbles about dragons that were only legible to him. A lantern with a flickering candle sat near the edge of the desk.

Toothless looked up at his rider curiously. Hiccup glanced down at him. "Oh, it's nothing bud." He flicked his pencil, but this time it rolled slightly to the right and fell off the desk. Hiccup bent down, expecting to pick it up, but found Toothless had caught it in his mouth. Hiccup took it from him, smiling slightly. "Thanks." The dragon still thought he sounded downcast. The Night Fury made a questioning noise.

Hiccup pushed his chair from the desk, allowing there to be enough space for Toothless to put his head on the almost seventeen year old boy's lap. "I just..." How should he put this? "Toothless, you know how Astrid is my, uh" -would Toothless understand the word girlfriend?- "mate," he finished lamely. He thought he saw recognition in his companion's eyes. Sometimes Hiccup forgot how smart Toothless actually was.

"Well I've been thinking," he continued. "Maybe it's time to find you one. I don't think there are any other Night Furies on Berk?" The dragon shook his head in a way, and Hiccup took it for a no. "I wish I could figure out what happened to them all. I mean, nobody had ever killed one on Berk before, so where did they all go?" He sighed, experiencing one of the many times he wished Toothless could talk.

Toothless nudged Hiccup in the stomach slightly, indicating he wanted to be pat, and Hiccup obliged. "I dunno what's going to happen bud," he admitted. "But I won't let your breed die out. I'll find another Night Fury, and then they'll be little Night Fury babies running around..." He looked sternly at the dragon. "Just don't have too much fun...I don't want to have to handle a hundred all at once." Toothless looked at him, and gave him an awkward, gummy smile, and Hiccup's lips twitched upwards. The young viking knew he could do nothing about the 'mate problem' tonight, but he didn't feel like going to bed yet.

"C'mon bud," he said, getting out of the chair and placing his good foot on the floor first, where it was followed by his prosthetic one. "Let's go flying."

* * *

This had to be the best feeling in the world. The wind whistled in his ears and pushed his redish brown hair back from his freckled face. "Whoo-hoo!" he yelled happily. No matter how many times he and Toothless flew, it was always exhilarating. Especially when it was just the two of them, practicing tricks and seeing their limits.

The black dragon soared through the sky, and rose a bit so his rider could reach out and touch the clouds that covered most of the starry sky. Hiccup patted the dragon's head twice. "Ready bud?" he asked with a grin. Toothless glanced back at him and jerked his head down, which mean 'yes'.

Toothless changed directions and shot upwards sharply. Toothless started to spin. After a few moments, Hiccup reached for the strings that were holding him onto Toothless' saddle, and undid them, with the black dragon still spinning. Hiccup felt the familiar sensation of falling, and he grinned, seeing Toothless continue to do his part of the trick.

The Night Fury stopped spinning, and changed directions again. He shot downwards, and flew a little bit in front of Hiccup, making sure to stay at the boy's pace. Hiccup reached a hand, and grabbed Toothless' tail firmly as they came closer to the churning ocean below. The dragon jerked his tail and flipped Hiccup over. The young viking landed neatly and perfectly in place, tying himself back on with a few seconds to spare, his leg and prosthetic one already in place. The duo, threatening to crash the into the rock pillar that surrounded the area, when he moved his leg, and Toothless' fake tail changed and they shot upwards.

Hiccup grinned, happy at their success. It had taken them about a week to finally master the difficult trick -of Hiccup's own invention of course. The rest of the flight was more peaceful. Toothless glided near the shimmering, dark water, before the two headed back to their house.

Hiccup opened the door, and they went upstairs, treading carefully and quietly so as not to wake his father. Even with the war between dragons and humans over, there were still many -albeit, less dangerous, problems to deal with. Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Fishlegs were all doing there best to keep the dragons in check, but they were just five teenagers, and sometimes problems arose because of the sheer number of dragons that inhabited Berk.

_But no Night Furies, _Hiccup thought, glancing at Toothless as the dragon settled down for the night. Hiccup laid back in bed and stared at the ceiling. No matter what it took, he would make sure that Toothless wouldn't always be the only Night Fury on Berk. After all, Toothless had helped him "get the girl" if you will. Shouldn't he do the same for him?_  
_

* * *

Hiccup, and his dragon, already loved flying. But one thing that added to the enjoyment, was flying with Astrid and Stormfly. It was nice to have a change from flying by themselves, and it was also fun to have races. Nine out of ten times, Toothless won these races, but once in awhile Stormfly pulled ahead. Luckily, like Hiccup, Astrid wasn't one to gloat. She liked winning, sure, but she wasn't like Snotlout.

"Wanna have another race?" she asked him, her blonde hair more windswept and her face slightly pink from the cold wind.

Hiccup nodded. "Raven's point!" Both dragons took off, moving their wings as fast as they could. They sped over the village, but only the small children that clutched onto their mothers' hand in the crowded street looked up in awe. It had soon become a familiar sight in Berk, something that greatly pleased Hiccup. Probably around 95% of the population was fine with the dragons, and he was glad there weren't more people like horrid old Mildew.

The young viking boy looked down as they soared through the sky at the dense forest below. Raven's Point was a favourite spot of his. Not only was a good place for flying in general, or for the landscape, it also held the cove where Hiccup had met Toothless -if only he had known then how much it would change everyone's lives...

He smiled and bent lower over Toothless' back, willing the dragon to have more speed. Even though neither of them bragged, Hiccup still liked to beat his girlfriend at their races. Luckily, this was one of those times. Slightly breathless, Hiccup hopped off of Toothless and onto the soft ground of Raven's Point.

"Are we were I think we are?" Astrid asked, smirking at him, and already predicting his answer. In fact, she already knew this place fairly well. She enjoyed training here, especially practicing with her ax. It was quiet and private, not to mention beautiful.

"The cove? Yeah. C'mon, the entrance is somewhere around here." Hiccup led the way as the two vikings and two dragons rounded the corner of the pile of boulders. After walking for a few minutes, Hiccup grinned and dashed ahead, climbing over the now worn shield that had gotten stuck between two big boulders the second time he had visited Toothless. He bent down like before and went under it. Astrid did the same, while Stormfly and Toothless imply leaped over it.

Toothless looked around excitedly, and nudged Hiccup's arm with his nose. Smiling, Hiccup patted it. Even though in reality it had only been a few months, it seemed like years ago when Hiccup had shot down a Night Fury. Speaking of Night Furies, it made Hiccup think about the previous night.

"Hey Astrid," he said, turning to look at her. She too had been caught up in her own thoughts about this place, but his voice took her out of her stupor.

"Yeah?" she replied, looking at him curiously.

"Well, so far on Berk, Toothless is the only Night Fury I've seen, and I didn't see any at the island where the dragons laid their eggs" -now _that _had been an interesting Snoggletog experience- "and well, I've been thinking on trying to find another one...you know, for Toothless."

Astrid thought about it for a moment, before voicing her thoughts. "Well," she said slowly. "It's a good idea, and important, but it would be extremely difficult."

Hiccup sighed. "I know...but even if we can't find a female, just finding another Night Fury would be exciting, don't you think? All the other dragons get to see others of the own species. I figure we can look around at nearby islands -we wouldn't go too far," he assured her. He knew she was always worrying about him. He couldn't really blame her for it. Losing his leg to the Red Death, jumping off a cliff when Toothless faced off with that Whispering Death, getting stranded on Outcast Island...the list went on and on. Even though the girl was good at hiding her emotions, you could always see the true emotion -or emotions, she was feeling.

"I suppose we could go this afternoon, take the others," she said thoughtfully, tilting her head slightly to the side. Hiccup grinned at her.

"Something crazy and stupid again eh?" he said happily. She smiled softly at him.

"It does seem to be a reoccurring theme in our lives," she admitted, and laughed.

* * *

It seemed like Snotlout had finally shut up. He had started complaining only an hour in the Finding-a-female-Night-Fury search flight, until Astrid had glared at him so fiercely, and said she would hit him in a...certain spot with her ax so badly he would want to die that he quieted down.

They had been flying through the sky -more specifically the clouds, which seemed to be getting darker and darker- for hours. Hiccup's fingers felt numb as they held the rein that Toothless' saddle was connected too. Although technically Toothless did all the steering, it was another way to keep Hiccup from sliding off the saddle unintentionally and it allowed the rider a little more control of where they were going.

"Hiccup?" The boy heard Fishlegs' scared voice somewhere from behind him. Hiccup glanced over his shoulder to see his friend on Meatlug. "It's getting kinda hard to see...maybe we should head back, start again another day..." None of the others, who Hiccup was grateful had stayed out this long as it was, objected. He knew they must be cold and tired as he was.

Hiccup sighed. They had passed a few islands and landed shortly on each one, asking the villagers if they had any Night Furies. All of them had said no. None of these islands had trained dragons, but they were certainly open to the idea, and had heard all about Hiccup and the Red Death, and were very impressed. They were also fascinated by Toothless, since he was a dragon species they had only heard about before, and he was trained. Explaining to each chief -or in one case a chieftess- that they were only trying to find another Night Fury, and were unable to help with each village's dragon problem, but told them one day maybe they could come back to help.

It was true though, it was getting hard to see. The clouds were getting darker; he hoped a storm wasn't coming, although it had started to rain -quite heavily now. Fog was rolling across the waves, so they could barely see land, even as close to the water as they were flying. He didn't want to give up the search, but it would be pointless to continue.

"Yeah," he said. He raised his voice so the others could hear as well. "We're heading back guys!" They all changed direction, and had only gone a little while, when a huge wave of water came crashing down on them.

Hiccup broke through the surface, still on Toothless who was trying to resurface, as the winds picked up. Wind was whipping hair in his face, he couldn't see through the fog, rain was pouring down. All he did know, was Toothless. The rough feel of the dragon's scales, he could hear the heartbeat...

"Come...on...bud..." he said, trying to avoid mouthfuls of water with little success. "We...gotta...get...out...of...h-" Thunder rumbled as another wave came crashing down. Hiccup vaguely heard Toothless roar in frustration, and felt them rise out of the water. It seemed like the twins, Snotlout, Fishlegs and Astrid -along with their dragons, had managed to rise as well.

Nobody had time to say anything as wind started whipping them around. Hiccup's head hit something hard, but he hardly registered the pain as he was thrown around like a rag doll. He blinked a few times, fighting to not pass out, and in the clouds, he saw a purple and white light. Not lightning, but not unlike it...It looked like what Toothless' fire was...had they found a Night Fury? He couldn't be sure, it could have just been a coincidence...

* * *

He was suddenly aware he had landed on something hard. Something...rocky. He weakly opened his eyes. _Oh Thor, _he thought miserably. A pale face with blonde hair was bending over him; Astrid.

"What happened?" He tried to sit up, but she pushed him back gently.

"I think one of Hookfang's horns hit you in the head," she replied. Her voice shook slightly. The experience had obviously scared her.

"Where are the others?" he asked. If anything happened to them...it would be his fault. He hadn't realized he was leading them into a storm, and they had only come out with him because he had asked. The guilt settled uncomfortably in his stomach.

Astrid bit her lip, not wanting to tell him. "I don't know...I think we all ended up in the same place, but I'm sure..." she trailed off worriedly. "I'm afraid it gets worse...Hiccup, I think we're on-"

"Outcast Island," he finished, looking around. "Yeah." Everything looked similar when he had gotten stranded with Snotlout about a week ago. He suddenly noticed the abscense of someone who normally never left his side for more than five minutes (and that was just for going to the bathroom!). "Astrid -where's Toothless?" His voice almost broke. His dragon had to be okay.

She shook her head. "I-I don't know..."

Hiccup felt ashamed to find tears prickling in his eyes. He couldn't change the horrible circumstances, but he would find this dragon, the possible Night Fury he had glimpsed, and his friends, and they would all get off this island, alive.

* * *

_Can I just say how epic the HTTYD soundtrack is? "Forbidden Friendship" and "Test Drive/Coming Back Around Mix" is what I've been listening to for the past four hours of my life while I wrote this. Like I said, this is my first fic for HTTYD, so if you think anyone is acting OOC, please let me know. Another thing, is that I haven't been in this fandom long -I've loved the movie for a while, and I watch the TV series (I can't wait for episode seventeen!)- but I haven't read a lot of fanfiction, so if this idea has already been used, I apologize, but I won't stop my story. After all, no two writers will write the exact same thing right? :) Please review._


	2. Complications and Plans

Astrid's breathing was becoming shallow. Hiccup's own feet ached. After deciding it would be best to try to get to high ground -hopefully to find some clean water, and it would give them a better view of the island- they had headed off towards the extremely rocky mountain they could see in the distance.

He had no clue how long they had been walking, but it had definitely been a long while. He could hear the metal part of his prosthetic leg creak under the strained pressure. Sighing, he made the decision that this would be a good place to stop for the night. They had only just gotten to the foot of the mountain, but would need daylight and rest to climb it. Luckily, the mountain was outer north side of the island, just along the edge, so they didn't run into anyone. It appeared that the Outcasts' village was more in the centre or south side of the island.

Hiccup knew that Astrid would never admit that she was exhausted; she was too proud, so he stopped. "I think we should make camp here, and start climbing the mountain tomorrow." Astrid didn't say anything, but she smiled weakly at him in thanks, knowing he knew she was tired.

"What do you have in your satchel?" she asked. Instead of sitting down, she went towards some nearby trees -no leaves or fruits on any of them- and snapped off the branches for firewood.

"I have two biscuits," he replied, rummaging through his bag. "A flask with water" -he had put it carefully in the bag, not wanting them to lose the fresh water- "a metal rod" -in case Toothless lost his tail again, although until they could find the dragon, it was fairly useless to them- "a small knife..." He paused, taking out the knife and holding it in one hand while the other searched every nook and cranny of the bag, "that's it."

After setting the branches in the proper position, Astrid walked over and took the knife from Hiccup's hands. He looked at her, about to say something, when she cut him off. "No offense Hiccup, but let's face, weapons still aren't your strong point." He shut his mouth, knowing she was right. "Now, I'll get the fire ready, and we can eat some of the biscuits alright?"

He nodded and the two moved over towards the small pile of wood. Astrid picked up two stones and began to strike them together. It took a few tries, much to her frustration, but a small spark flew from the bottom stone and onto the wood. Soon, the sky getting darker and darker, they had a crackling fire going. They each only ate a small part of the biscuit. They had no idea how long they were going to be on the island, and they had to make the food Hiccup had brought last.

"You should get some sleep," Astrid said quietly after a while. "I'll take the first watch."

"No, no, you don't have to-"

"I know," she said with a soft smile. She punched him lightly in the arm, then kissed him on the cheek. "But I know you're worried sick about Toothless...you need your strength. I'll wake you up halfway through for your shift, okay?"

Hiccup smiled a little at her. "Okay...thanks Astrid." He sat down on the ground, Astrid with her back to him. He looked at his prosthetic leg. It was more comfortable to sleep with it off, but if something happened and they had to make a quick get-a-way... He lay down and rolled over onto his back, deciding to keep it on.

* * *

_He was running. Thud, clank, thud, clank. He could hear his footsteps. He was running, desperate to get to his dragon -to save Toothless. Toothless was roaring in terror and fear and pain, incredible pain. And there was Alvin, popping out of nowhere, bringing an ax down. Hiccup tried to scream, do anything, but his voice wouldn't work. Time was slowing down -he wouldn't reach Toothless in time. Finally, he regained his voice._

"NOOO!"

Hiccup woke up, shaking and sweating. His heart was pounding against his rib-cage. It took a few seconds for him to calm himself down. It was just a nightmare... for now, at least. He looked around to reassure it simply was just a dream. Astrid was looking at him intently, concern shining in her eyes.

"Nightmare?" she guessed. He nodded, swallowing a lump in his throat. "Want to talk about it?" She took his hand.

"Not really." He closed his green eyes for a moment. "Why don't you get some sleep now, I'll be fine."

Astrid squeezed his hand reassuringly. "Alright. Just wake me up if anything happens." The blonde handed over the knife and he clutched it tightly. Then she lay down and rolled over, so she wasn't facing him. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and closed her eyes.

Meanwhile, Hiccup stared at the dark woods that covered the area around the mountain. Briefly he glanced up to see the mountain; it was ominous looking, and it was darker at night. He could see crags in the stone, veering off into sharp turns. His stomach twisted into knots at the thought of climbing it. Astrid would be fine, he was sure, but he would've already had difficulty climbing it, even without his metal leg.

It's for Toothless, he reminded himself. Slowly his stomach unwound itself. It's all for Toothless.

He went back to looking ahead in the dark woods.

* * *

The Night Fury was extremely aware that everything hurt. His wings, his head, his body, Hel, even his torn and tattered artificial tail-fin. His vision was blurry, and as he blinked away the blurriness, one thing became horribly clear. Oh Thor where was Hiccup? The dragon slowly eased himself up, ignoring the stabs of pain. He had to find his human.

Toothless started walking through the forest, the scenery - dark, bare trees, gray hills, little grass and plants, plenty of wild dragons flying overhead - became more and more familiar. Oh Odin, they were on Outcast island weren't they? Just their luck, of course.

He didn't know how long he had been walking (certainly quite a long time) when a pair of luminous, blue eyes peered at him through the darkness. Recognizing this as a fellow dragon, he called over uncertainly. _"Hello?" _he asked. To humans, this would've sounded like a low rumble; sometimes it was incredibly frustrating Hiccup couldn't understand him.

The other dragon replied uncertainly. _"Hello. You're a Night Fury too?" _The voice was quiet and hesitant, and definitely female.

_"Yes. My friend will be excited to meet you -we came looking for other Night Furies!" _Toothless said excitedly, but his happiness fell when he remembered; he didn't even know if Hiccup was alright. _"You haven't seen anybody who isn't usually on the island have you?"_

The female stepped out of the shadows, moonlight revealing her. She looked just like Toothless, except smaller, with both tail-fins intact and blue eyes. _"No, sorry. Just the normal dragons and those savage humans. I've been on the island for a while." _She walked closer to further inspect the male Night Fury. _"What's that on your back?"_

It took Toothless a moment to realize she was talking about his saddle. He was so used to having it there (and, although a little less often, a scrawny Viking) he often forgot it was on his back. _"Oh, this is a saddle. My friend made it for me."_

_"Who is your _friend _exactly?" _she asked suspiciously. A rustle ran around them, making the female paw the ground nervously. _"Those savage humans might be coming. They like to hunt at night. I know a safe place. Do you want to come?" _It would be nice, to not be alone, after all.

_"Depends," _Toothless replied. _"Will we have to fly there?" _He hoped not; he had a feeling this Night Fury wouldn't take too kindly to the fact he was friends with humans.

She shook her head. _"No. The savage humans never think to look somewhere dragons wouldn't usually go. In the cliff is my safe place. Come on, I'll show you."_

A little while later, after walking in silence, the two dark-scaled dragons found themselves at the foot of a cliff, at a beach, on the South side of the island. Many caves were available in the cliff. The female Night Fury scampered up the rocks, gliding her way into her hide-out. Toothless followed, having a bit more difficulty since he couldn't fly.

The female Night Fury scorched the ground beneath her, circling before settling down for the the night. _"By the way," _she said sleepily. _"My name is Jaci." _

* * *

Meatlug was frantic. Fishlegs, Toothless, Hiccup, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Astrid were nowhere to be found. It was late, and the dragons (Hookfang, Stormfly and Barf and Belch) had been walking for a long time, searching for their riders. _"Should we go back to Berk and get help?"_ she suggested to the Nightmare, Nadder and Zippleback.

_"That sounds like a good plan,"_ Belch said. Then Barf spoke up.

_"You mean run away!"_ he snapped. The two heads started arguing and snapping at one another. Meatlug sighed. Usually Toothless broke up their fights.

_"Our riders could be in danger and you're arguing like hatchlings,"_ Stormfly admonished. Barf and Belch hung their heads, looking ashamed; it was no time to be arguing. Stormfly snorted, smoke rising from her nostrils, pleased with herself. _"Good. Now, all those in favour of Meatlug's idea, say 'Aye'."_

The chorus of 'Ayes' went smoothly. Stormfly preened her wings for a moment, cleaning them. Then she looked to Hookfang. _"You're the only one who knows the way to Berk. Lead the way Hookfang." _The dragons took off, soaring into the night sky, Hookfang proudly showing off in front until Stormfly whacked him "accidentally" in the head with her wing for goofing off.

* * *

When the sun finally came up, Hiccup looked relieved. He rubbed his tired eyes and then shook Astrid awake with some difficulty; she was a heavy sleeper. After she was up, the two looked at the large mountain. "Ready to climb fishbone?" she teased.

Hiccup smiled a little. "Ready as I'll ever be." Together, they set off on the steep path, ignoring their rumbling stomachs. They had more important things to address, at the moment.

Not even an hour after leaving their campsite and getting a fifteenth of the way up the mountain did someone stumble upon their abandoned campsite. The Viking recognized the tracks in the dirt - a pair of boots next to another footprint of a boot and then a rectangular shape, oddly enough - and grinned, showing his missing teeth.

"Ooh, Alvin'll like this," Savage said to himself, and he went to find the Outcast leader. Alvin would like this very, very much...

* * *

**Just go ahead and hate me. Really. Just do it. It's been what, months? *Winces* I am so, so, so sorry. Life and exams have gotten in the way. In a few days though, I'll be free and able to write as much as I want each day! Also, the next chapter will be sooner and much longer than this one, I assure you.**

**I think the dragons' personalities would resemble their rider's, as shown here. Also, Jaci means 'moon' in Tupi, Native American. I wanted to use a Norse name for lightning (since Night Furies are the 'unholy offspring of lightning and death itself') or moon, but couldn't find one I really liked. Slowly, we'll get her full story. Her name is pronounced like Jasy. **

**Please review.**


	3. A Dangerous Idea

Jaci was up before Toothless, and she nudged him awake with her snout. _"Come on, get up. You wanted to look for your friend right?" _The mention of that made Toothless perk up, and he got up from his comfortable spot. Although the leather saddle on his back was a little uncomfortable - it had rubbed against his back in his sleep. Nothing he could do about it now though. _"Good. Now, who is your friend?"_

_"Well..." _Toothless said hesitantly. Jaci didn't seem to be very violent, but if she reacted badly to the news, she could attack him and have an advantage since he couldn't fly - something she didn't know yet. _"I don't think it really matters," _he said quickly. _"As long as I can recognize him, I can find him." _In his mind, he was starting to form a plan - a lie. _"Do you know a good place to eat? I'm starving." _

The change of topic seemed to take Jaci by surprise (and she would get an answer about this dragon's friend, oh yes she would) but she answered after a moment. _"I'll go. The dragons there know me better and if you came I would have to introduce to everyone - and I mean **everyone**. __By the way, I still don't know your name."_

_"Oh." _Toothless said shortly. Had he never really introduced himself? _"I'm Toothless."_

_"Toothless?" _Jaci said and laughed slightly. _"Bit of a funny name don't you think?" _Toothless shrugged his shoulders. Jaci looked towards the entrance of the cave. _"I'll be back soon," _she promised and the smaller Night Fury galloped out of the cave before flying away.

Toothless grimaced to himself. He had been hoping he would be alone at one point. But he didn't want to do what he needed to. He sighed and took a deep breath before he turned around and ripped off his red tail-fin. The metal rod clattered out of place. The red fabric left a bitter taste in his mouth, and he spit it off to the side, once he was at the mouth of the cave.

He would say he lost it in the storm. It would protect Hiccup for a little longer, and hopefully Jaci would help him find the Viking teenager without getting too aggressive.

Hopefully.

* * *

The trek up the mountain wasn't doing too well.

All the little crags and cliffs made it already difficult to maneuver with two normal legs, let alone with one metal one. Twice, he had only fallen off, only for Astrid to hoist him back up in the nick of time. Close to three times he had banged his shin or calf against a large rock (Oh Odin the pain). He had also slipped on mossy patches covering the boulders, face-plant and get a horrible-tasting mouthful of moss. Fun.

Eventually though, they reached a high enough point where the two Vikings could see everything fairly well. Astrid gripped a tree trunk with one hand and leaned over the edge of the small cliff she and Hiccup were standing on. "Look," she said. She pointed far off, to the West side of the mountain. There was a small cluster of what seemed to be shacks, with smoke curling out of little dots. "That must be the Outcast village."

Hiccup nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Maybe we could sneak in there somehow, and find out what happened to the others and their dragons."

Astrid raised her eyebrows. "Sneak into the Outcast village? Our sworn enemies who would love to disembowel us? On purpose?"

"Thank you for summing that up."

Astrid rolled her eyes at his catchphrase and swept her bangs out of her eyes with one hand. "Well," she said slowly, twirling Hiccup's dagger in her hands. She gripped the leather hilt tightly. "You've done something crazy and stupid. Should've known something insane was bound to come up sometime." She hit him lightly on the shoulder (only Hiccup could come up with something so insane, but they didn't really have any other ideas). "Let's go fishbone."

Hiccup grinned. "Alright. As long as you're the human shield." She smiled slightly at him, and were about to start the journey back down when Hiccup noticed something with... Potential.

The Viking walked up to the tree with the large, peeling bark. "Hey Astrid," he called. She joined him, looking at him (he was grinning like an idiot. An absolutely adorable idiot.) and the tree curiously. Hiccup wrenched off a large piece of bark; large enough for a full-grown, beefy Viking to sit on. "What do you think of taking this down the mountain?"

Astrid let out a small gasp. "Oh no," she said quickly. "I am not riding on that thing down a bumpy and dangerous mountain!" She put her hands on her hips to emphasize her point. Way too many things could go wrong.

Hiccup pouted a little. "It'll be faster," he said. "It'll be easier on my leg." He moved his left leg to remind her of his 'disability'. He knew he was halfway there in convincing her. "Besides, remember the last time we went on a rider together hmm? On a certain dragon? And it -"

Astrid sighed, crossing her arms against her chest. "- changed my life for the better," she muttered. "Fine," she said unhappily. Hiccup set the bark down and climbed on. Astrid sat beside him, put her legs around his and wrapped her arms around his frail form. "But if we die, I'm going to kill you."

Hiccup laughed lightly. "Wouldn't expect anything else of you." He leaned back and kissed her on the cheek. Her eyes widened; he had never done that before. A wobbly smile appeared on her face, and she flushed. "Push off? I don't exactly have the leg strength."

"What?" It took her a few seconds to register what he had said. "Oh. Right." She removed her legs and gave a big push then put her lower limbs back in position. The make-shift sled started to go down the hill.

"Okay!" she screamed as it picked up speed, squeezing Hiccup's torso. "I take it back! Get me off of this thing!" Too late for that, she thought glumly, but she also made a mental note as she yelled: never use Hiccup's crazy, insane or stupid ideas ever again.

* * *

Toothless devoured the fish Jaci had brought back; he hadn't realized how hungry he had been - what with the worry of Hiccup, keeping his secret and not being killed by the Outcasts or the female Night Fury - until there was food in front of him.

Jaci ate her portion quickly as well, and she was done eating before him. _"You know," _she said thoughtfully, studying him. _"It's odd I don't recognize you. What island were you assigned to?"_

In group of Night Furies (called a Pack), every year, five Night Furies who had come of age were chosen to scope out other islands from their own, seeing if there are any good resources or advantages to moving. Jaci had been sent to Outcast Island, much to her displeasure, and had been her for almost ten spring-times.

_"Berk." _Toothless answered. _"For fifteen spring-times." _

_"Ah, that's why we don't know each other." _He was a few years older. Younger hatchlings didn't interact with older ones too much. They kept to their year, at least until they were older. She gave him a puzzled look. _"We're not supposed to stay longer than fifteen spring-times; why haven't you gone back to the Pack?" _

_"Personal reasons. I didn't want to leave my friend."_ If the Dragon Queen hadn't hypnotized him he would've left before, but once Hiccup's bola had snapped him out of it, he couldn't really go anywhere. And there was no way in Hel he would go back, even for a visit, if Hiccup wouldn't be safe. His Pod might not react well._ "He's not a Night Fury," _(or a dragon)_ "and I wasn't sure how the others would take to him. But I'm happy on Berk. Besides, with the injury I got from the storm" _- he lifted his tail with a fake, sad expression on his face to demonstrate the missing tail-fin, and Jaci gasped slightly - _"I don't think I'll be able to make it back."_

Jaci pawed the ground, thinking hard. _"Winter is coming. The sea will freeze over; you could walk back across the ice." _

_"Maybe." _Once he was done with his meal, he jerked his head towards the entrance of the cave. _"Can we start looking for my friend now?" _Jaci nodded and they walked to the exit together. _"Thanks for the food," _he added.

Jaci gave a low rumbling sound, which was the dragon-to-dragon version of a smile. _"You're welcome." _She paused, feeling hesitant. Toothless did seem nice, but... Who was his friend, exactly? What sort of dragon could make a saddle on his back? _"Friend," _she finished, and feeling embarrassed and pleased with herself she dashed upfront, leaving a conflicted but overall happy Toothless behind to follow.

The female dragon stayed on the ground, and Toothless noticed how, as they walked through the forest, she was careful not to go up too high through the cliffs, or anywhere that would mean he would have to fly. Gratefulness surged through him. And guilt, for his lies.

So far though, there was no sign of any of the teens. No footprints or anything. There was also no way to tell if the teens' dragons had been around, because there were Nadders, Zipplebacks, Gronckles and Nightmares everywhere, leaving footprints on the ground and flying in the air. It was extremely frustrating. Toothless shot his fire at the tree to vent out his anger. Within a few moments it was blackened and burnt to a crisp.

_"We'll find your friend," _Jaci reassured him. _"We just have to keep looking." _

_"Yeah..." _Toothless said. The intensity of his emotions in his eyes - the worry, the fear, love for a friend - frightened Jaci slightly. She had never seen a Night Fury be so devoted to anybody, especially somebody of a different dragon species. He must be really close to his friend. _"We just have to keep looking." _

Toothless turned his head and sniffed the air - from miles away, he could smell smoke. _"Hey Jaci, where's the village on this island?" _

_"West," _Jaci answered, but gave him a incredulous look. _"Why? You don't think your friend would go there on purpose do you? Nobody could be **that **stupid." _

Toothless made a low rumbling noise, shaking his head. Only Hiccup would do that. _"You don't know my friend well enough then." _He took a few steps forward, and when Jaci didn't follow he looked back. _"Aren't you coming?" _He tried to keep his voice level, not allowing his - what was it? Disappointment? - er, conflicted emotions seep into his voice. It didn't work very successfully.

Jaci cocked her head to the side, looking troubled. _"Well," _she said slowly. She pawed the ground nervously. _"Normally I avoid trouble. Those humans are pretty good at killing dragons. They haven't been killing as many, lately though. Taking them into that giant cage, call it an arena and locking dragons up. They don't even know I'm on the island; the only reason they haven't tried to hunt me down."_

Toothless felt desperation gnaw at him from the inside, and his throat was dry. He needed Jaci to help him, needed her flight. She wasn't that bad as a companion either (or unattractive, as far as dragons go - oh shut up brain! He told himself). There was only one thing left to do. _"My father is Canicus and my mother is Huo." _He really had sunk to a whole new level of low. Playing the 'my parents are the leaders of the pack' card.

Jaci's blue eyes widened. _"You're their son? You're Arluin? You said your name was Toothless!" _Her voice was shrill and accusatory. He had lied to her. He was the heir to the Pod, the next leader. But he had said he might never go back... Who would lead them? His parents must be worried sick... His parents! Oh, he had done it, hadn't he! Night Furies were obliged to help the Heir, no matter what. But how did she know he wasn't lying? He had to be tested before she agreed to anything dangerous. _"Why did you say your name was Toothless, Arluin?"_

_"It's the nickname my friend gave me. And I do prefer it, actually."_

That only gave her more questions. Why wouldn't he want to be recognized as the Heir, by using his birth name. _"How do I know you're not lying?"_

_"My eyes," _he answered. His green ones met her blue ones. _"Only the Heir has green eyes, passed down from father to son. If I wasn't Canicus' son, how could I have green eyes?" _

She snorted angrily. Why hadn't she noticed that before and high-winged it out of there? _"Great. Now I have you help you, you over-grown lump of a lizard." _She sighed. _"Fine, let's go to the village where we could easily be skinned alive." _Toothless made the rumbling noise again, even louder than before. The two dragons walked in silence, until they got to the outskirts of the village.

Jaci sighed again, turning to give Toothless a sharp look. _"Well played **Toothless,**"_ she admitted grudgingly. Then she led the way down the hill, towards the village with the high risk of being skinned alive. Fun.

* * *

**A/N: I had SO much fun with this chapter. Toothless starts revealing some of his secrets. We get to see Jaci's temper peak here, which will a reappearance, I assure you. She hates having secrets being kept from her. Toothless' real name, Arluin, means "noble friend" and "noble warrior". I thought it suited him perfectly. His mother's name is Chinese for fire, and his father's name means "born of fire". The leader of the Pack will have a temper, and you will meet both of these dragon's in the course of this story. **

**So now the two Night Furies and Vikings are heading towards the village... Chaos will ensue, I assure you. You'll also find out what happened to the other teens in the next chapter or two. Also, the other dragons are heading towards Berk. Stoick's not going to be pleased. And the Outcasts know Hiccup's on the island. Oh dear. What do you think will happen?**

**Please review.**


	4. A Confrontation

Hiccup really needed to start fully thinking his plans through. Fortunately, his idea for the bark-sled cut their time traveling down the mountain into at least half of what it would have took. Unfortunately, they were going at top speed - and there were no breaks.

The sled went up in the air from a little inclined rock - the two Vikings lurched forwards and Astrid clutched Hiccup even tighter as the makeshift sled came back down; it was a bumpy landing. Hiccup almost completely fell off. The sled continued to speed down the hill. Luckily, they were heading down to the village in an area that was almost treeless. Almost. A big, towering Loki tree came closer and closer.

"I'm going to try to move it," Astrid told him. She stuck her foot out and it dragged, certainly, but they were going too fast. She brought her leg back, her foot aching. "Any other ideas?" In less than a minute they'd smash into the tree.

"Jump?" Hiccup suggested. He felt Astrid's head nod on his back. "On my mark. One... two... three!"

Astrid leaped from the bark sled successfully, years of training allowing her to do a combat roll. She landed on her feet neatly, and straightened up, looking around. Hiccup hadn't been as fortunate. Because of his inflexible left foot, he was forced to jump completely. He rolled over a harsh patch of rocks, and promptly face-planted. His mouth was full of dirt. He tried to spit it out as Astrid helped him up.

"I'm fine Astrid," Hiccup said, flushing as Astrid checked him for injuries. "Honest." Finally Astrid checked his face and head; miraculously, there were no injuries, and only a few bruises on his back.

"Fine," Astrid replied. She brushed the dirt off of her shoulder pads. "Now, I think we're on the outskirts of the village. What do you think we should do?"

Hiccup glanced up at the sky; it was already darkening. "Let's wait until nighttime, and then sneak in and look. Hopefully most of the Outcasts will be asleep or something, and we can try to find the others and our dragons. I hope Toothless is alright."

Astrid put a hand on his shoulder. "He'll be fine," she said gently. "We'll all be fine."

Hiccup gave her a small smile. "I know. Thanks Astrid." He noticed, as they walked to see what remained of their 'sled', that she was limping somewhat.

"Did you hurt your foot?" he asked.

"Yeah, but it's alright," she said, shrugging. Hiccup kept his green eyes on her boot, and Astrid knew he was going to trip at one point or another. Even with two good feet and both eyes ahead of him he was clumsy. "Fine, take a look at it." She sat down on a rock and tugged off her boot.

Hiccup inspected her slightly red foot. "Well," he said slowly. "It looks fine." He touched it for a moment and Astrid felt a slight twinge of pain. "It doesn't look to be sprained; it looks more like you just stubbed it when it hit the ground." Knowing Hiccup was done his examination, she gratefully put her boot back on.

"When did you become a foot expert?" she said playfully. Hiccup laughed half-halfheartedly, and it was a good sound to hear.

"When you lose one, you wanna make sure you don't lose the other," he said. He sat on another nearby rock. "I think we should look for water. Our flasks are going to be empty soon, and we'll be spending at least one more day on this island."

Astrid sighed at the news. She pushed herself up. "Alright, let's go look for a river Fishbone."

Hiccup grinned as he followed her. "Whatever you say Spiky."

Astrid glanced down at her skirt spikes. "Spiky? Really?"

* * *

Due to the fact that Toothless couldn't fly, it was nightfall by the time the two Night Furies reached the village. Jaci was distant the whole way down, which made the dragon feel bad, but he couldn't blame her; he had kept a major secret. What would she do when she found out about Hiccup? Even his rank as the Heir wouldn't be enough to keep her under control. He had to do this carefully.

Jaci, on the other hand, didn't know what to think. First, she thought Toothless was nice and unfortunate. Then, he was a liar and blackmailed her into helping him. He seemed sorry about it, but still, it would take a lot for her to forgive him. All dragons were skilled at holding grudges, and although Jaci wasn't about to fight him to the death about (well, maybe later, she thought, annoyed) it, she wasn't going to let it go anytime soon.

The black dragons carefully entered the seemingly-deserted village, and Toothless was grateful for his superb hearing. Speaking of which, there seemed to be an odd sound. Something that sounded that creaking and scraping; metal against something hard. Excitement surged through the dragon - it could be Hiccup! But he had to do this with caution; he didn't know how Jaci would react, and although he was stronger than her, she had the advantage of flight.

He couldn't suggest they split up, because what if she found Hiccup or one of the other teens? She would surely attack them, and he might not get there in time. If dragons were able to, he sighed. This was going to get ugly, but it was his best shot. He was sure Jaci could hear the creaking sound too, and he jerked his head in that direction. _"Let's go that way."_

Jaci nodded. _"Alright." _She paused. _"Do you hear that creaking sound?"_

Toothless hesitated; should he lie or tell the truth? _"Yeah, that's odd," _he said. _"I doubt it's a threat to us; two Night Furies against a Viking, we'll be fine." _

Jaci snorted nervously, smoke trailing out of her nostrils. _"Yeah," _she said slowly. _"I guess you're right." _They continued walking, the faint noise gradually becoming louder. Toothless could also hear a quiet voice.

"Toothless!" the voice hissed. Toothless perked up, joyful. It was Hiccup! "Toothless!"

"Toothless!" another, higher-pitched voice said; Astrid. "Stormfly! Toothless!"

Jaci looked at Toothless. _"Humans! Why are they calling your nickname? Are they hunting you? We should turn back - they might have weapons." _She listened longer, but Toothless kept moving forwards - he couldn't turn back now. He would never turn his back on Hiccup.

_"I think we can handle them," _Toothless said, which took Jaci by surprise. He had struck her as the reckless type sure, but not the very-stupid-reckless type. But he was the Heir, and if he died, she would be blamed, and the leader of their Pack was not very forgiving.

_"Fine," _she grumbled and they continued to go forwards.

In the low glow of the moon, she could make out two small figures. They must have been young, because they weren't as big or menacing looking as the grown men on the island did. Toothless bounded towards them and knocked one of the vikings flat. There was a clang of metal against stone, and Jaci sprinted forwards when she stopped, dumbfounded.

Toothless was licking a scrawny boy with hair like a yak, and the boy was laughing. Toothless wasn't hurting him at all.

"I missed you too bud," the boy said joyfully. Toothless got off him as Jaci just stared in shock, and she finally noticed the metal leg as the boy stood up; that jolted her out of her stupor.

She charged at the boy - the threat, a trick - but stopped short when Toothless whipped around and stood protectively in front of him and the girl with hair the colour of sunflowers. _"It's not what you think Jaci," _he told her. _"Let me show you."_

Jaci screeched angrily - his secret about being the heir was one thing, but befriending a human?! Suddenly it dawned on her; that's what the saddle was for - this scrawny twig of a human rode Toothless like he was a common mule! The Heir to sink so low! _"By Thor, Arluin, what are you doing?! That's a weakling, that's a useless Viking! Are you his pet?! Have you sunk so low? And to such a small, weak, twig-"_

_"Shut up," _Toothless growled. He stood protectively in front of the boy and the girl, who looked somewhat nervous - rightfully so, Jaci thought angrily. _"Hiccup may be a Viking, but he's far kinder than any I've ever met. He's my friend - and he is **not **useless or weak!" _

Toothless snorted angrily. _"I lied to you about my tail. I lost it; Hiccup shot me down and it tore off. I was trapped, and he found me, and even though it would've made his miserable life so much better, you know what he did? He. Freed. Me. And in turn - thank Odin - I spared his life. And he gave me back my flight. So don't you dare hurt him, or Astrid." _

Toothless crooned slightly and Hiccup patted his head. Toothless made the rumbling sound of a dragon's smile again. "Thank the Gods you're okay buddy," Hiccup said softly. Jaci was surprised by his tone - it was kind, loving, in fact. She still kept her distance though; she could smell the metal of a dagger, and the girl (Astrid, was it?) looked capable of fighting, unlike the boy (she refused to call him Hiccup) and Toothless was a powerful dragon. "Too bad about your tail though," Hiccup said, bending down and examining it. "It must have come off in the storm. We'll have to get fabric to fix that, but at least I have a good connecting rod to replace your damaged one."

Toothless' ear flaps stuck out suddenly, and he growled. Something was off, and he didn't like it. He jerked his head in the direction of the forest. "Alright bud," Hiccup said uneasily. Whatever Toothless was sensing it wasn't good, and that female Night Fury (he had an internal struggle of yelling in joy and fear) was snarling and pawing the ground. The differences between the two weren't much - the female was smaller and had blue eyes. The way he knew it was a female was because she had a higher-pitched sound.

He went to take a step forward, Astrid already leading the way, the dagger safely stowed away in her boot, when there was a sound of rope slicing through the air. Hiccup turned and saw a bola net spinning towards him, but it was quickly knocked out of the way by a plasma blast from Toothless. The dragon cursed inwardly; he couldn't catch a break could he.

_"Run if you want, but if you help the Outcasts hurt Hiccup, I won't hesitate to attack you. Or kill you," _Toothless told Jaci. The dragonness started to melt into the shadows, preparing to take flight, but it was a moment too late. A bola came flying at her.

"No!" somebody yelled. The boy with yak-hair intercepted the bola and was tangled up in it. He hit the ground hard and didn't stir, but Jaci could still hear his heartbeat.

"_Hiccup!_" Toothless and Astrid yelled. Astrid darted forwards, preparing to cut him free with his dagger, when an Outcast aimed his fist at her head; she ducked just in time. She was forced to move away as she dodged the beefy man's attacks, unable to aim a strong enough blow to really hurt him, and unwilling to pull out the dagger to kill.

Toothless was holding his own against at least twelve Outcasts, but more kept pouring in. Meanwhile, a few Outcasts had made their way to the boy in the net. Jaci felt almost compelled to help, since the boy had helped her, but he was still a filthy human who rode a dragon as if he was a common pack mule. Something kept her there, although she remained hidden in the darkness of the night.

"No!" Astrid said. She tried to get out of her fight with now two Outcasts as a small group carried Hiccup's unconscious body away. Toothless too tried to get away, but his chance was a plasma blast, but he would never dare; it could hit and injure, or possibly kill his boy.

Jaci felt torn, but she finally decided to at least try to help, because the boy had technically kept her from being captured. She leaped from her place in the shadows and knocked two Outcasts that Toothless was fighting down to the ground with a swish of her powerful tail. Toothless moved on to try to help Hiccup, but more and more Outcasts were coming to help. They were slowly taking the boy into a huge rock compound. The doors opened as the dragged the boy through it, his face scraping against the stone. Toothless roared angrily as the doors closed.

He charged at them and head-butted them as hard as he could. He scratched and shot plasma blast after blast and pounded, but the doors remained shut. _"HICCUP! LET ME IN YOU SONS OF A EGG-EATING RAT! HICCUP! LET ME IN!" _His voice sounded so broken and hollow and angry, it made Jaci wince.

The remaining Outcasts outside began to retreat now that they had what they wanted. "We'll capture his Night Fury later!" one of the Outcasts shouted to the others; one Toothless recognized: Savage. "Retreat!"

_"We should head to the forest," _Jaci said softly to Toothless when he rejoined she and Astrid. _"Regroup and plan." _

_"Yeah..." _Toothless said vaguely. He nudged Astrid in the back and she got his message and climbed into the saddle. Together, the two Night Furies - one determined and desperate; one confused and conflicted - and the Viking girl walked to the forest.

I'll get Hiccup back, Toothless vowed, even if it's the last thing I do.

* * *

**A/N: It's been a while. Sorry 'bout that. Next chapter, there's going to be some cool things of dragon-human-bonding stuff. We'll also get to see how Hiccup's holding out, maybe get some stuff on Toothless' past, get a glimpse of Berk, and maybe see the other teens. Stay tuned and please review. **


	5. Things Have To Get Worse

Astrid was _not _in a good mood.

After a few hours fitful dreams when she did manage to fall asleep, she was tired and angry – at the Outcasts, at everything. All she had to help her rescue Hiccup was two dragons; Toothless would be a big help, but she could tell the other Night Fury was still hesitant, and the dragon had wanted to kill her a little three hours ago.

She lay uncomfortably on the hard ground. There was no grass on the island. Maybe if they had Dragon Nip the savage people would've been able to tame dragons; thank Thor they hadn't managed it. But with Hiccup in their clutches...

She rolled over from her side onto her back and looked up at the sky. The storm clouds that had still been drifting through it were retreating, and the sky was dotted with stars still; there was no point in getting up. She closed her eyes, willing herself to fall back asleep, but it was useless and the blonde girl knew it.

She sat up. Toothless was near her, and he lifted his head from his paws to look at her, his green eyes shining with concern. She scratched underneath his chin and he made a sad purring sound as he pushed his head further into her palm. "I know," she told him sadly. "I'm worried about him too." He made a crooning noise.

A pair of luminous blue eyes in the dark a little while away told her the female (it's growls had been higher pitched, so she could only assume) was awake as well. Astrid couldn't meet her eyes, so she looked back at Toothless, seeing a sliver of the familiar brown saddle on the dragon's back.

"That can't be comfortable," she said to Toothless. She stood up, stretched and moved to the saddle. "Do you want me to take it off?" She asked and put a hand on one of the various straps. Toothless shook his head. She frowned, but she didn't know the dragon like Hiccup did, so she left it at that. "Alright you stubborn reptile." She scratched the area near his ear plates, her tone filled with affection.

Then she sat down again, oddly feeling a bit better. "Try to get some sleep Toothless." She rolled over, and closed her eyes; her eyelids were strangely heavy. Within a few minutes, she quickly fell asleep, hoping to rescue Hiccup and find Stormfly soon.

Toothless made a quiet but pleased rumbling noise at the sight of it. _"Good. She'll need her strength." _He felt that someone was staring at him, so he turned to look at Jaci. _"What?" _It came out sounding harsher than he meant it to; but after all, it was partially her fault Hiccup had been captured in the first place.

_"Your concern for the humans," _she answered. Dragon vision was much better than human's – especially Night Furies, since they were born to fly at night – and he could see her tail sweep across the dirt and stop near the side facing him. _"It's interesting. Unusual._"

_"I'm an unusual dragon,_" he said shortly.

_"Clearly," _she agreed. She paused for a moment. _"How did you befriend him?"_

_"You mean Hiccup?" _

He could see her nod.

_"It's a long story." _ The last thing he wanted to do was talk or think about Hiccup. Who knew what those Outcasts were doing to his boy!

_"I don't think we'll be leaving any time soon," _she countered.

He snorted, annoyed. He supposed it was better than endlessly worrying about the Viking. _"Alright. Well, it begins on an island the humans call Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. His village; in a word? Sturdy. It's been here for seven generations, but every single building was new – well that's what Hiccup tells me. They have fishing, hunting and a charming view of the sunsets. I've seen them; it's beautiful... Getting off topic._

_"Anyway, us dragons had to attack this island to feed the queen of our nest, who would eat us if we didn't. So one night I was leading a raid, and doing my usual thing – blowing stuff up and striking fear into the hearts of men, whatever -" _Jaci smiled. _"- when out of nowhere, this thing comes at me and traps me and I fell all the way to this place on Berk called Raven Point. I was just gaining consciousness, and all I could think about was the pain – cause it hurt like Hel – when I heard this tiny little voice. I managed to open my eyes to see Hiccup._

_"Anyway, he was holding a little dagger. He was saying he was going to cut my heart out and take it to his father. All I could do was stare at him and wait for death. But then he cut the ropes." _Toothless lifted his head slightly and then put it back on top of his paws. _"And you have to understand," _he added. _"That if he had followed through, it would have fixed everything bad in his life._

_"He told me all about it, because I was the first person who ever listened to him. His dad was always disappointed, all the other kids bullied him, and everyone thought he was weak. A screw-up."_

Jaci's blue eyes widened, pity swelling up inside of her. She forced it down. This was a boy. A _human _boy.

_"If he had killed me, his village would've accepted him. He would've been famous, loved by his father. All these problems would've gone away. But he couldn't do it. So once I was free, I pinned him down and was prepared to kill him. . . But I couldn't do it."_

_"Why not?" _Jaci asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

_" I. . . I looked at him, and I saw myself." _Toothless closed his eyes, thinking of all the horrible things the Outcasts' could be doing to His Boy. When he got his claws on them. . . They would wish they had never been born. _"We eventually became friends and he helped me fly again. Our first real flight was a disaster, but it was then I realized how much he meant to me. A few days later, he came back to the cove where I was, saying that we were taking a little vacation – forever."_

_"He was running away?"_

Toothless nodded. _"In his village, killing a dragon was everything, and I guess they train the young how to defend themselves, and the best fighter is chosen to have the so-called honour of killing a Monstrous Nightmare. And due to befriending me, he had become the best. He knew he couldn't do it, so he decided to run away. Only things didn't work out. One of his peers – the girl," _He jerked his black head towards Astrid's sleeping form, _"followed him before we left, and she discovered me. _

_"He managed to convince her to go for a ride and changed her mind. He went to the Nightmare-killing, only he tried to show that we weren't ruthless killers but his dad provoked it and it attacked him. I managed to claw my way out of the cove and rescue him, but I got captured and was forced to take them to the Nest. Hiccup had convinced the other teens to ride on the other dragons but once they were out of action, Hiccup and I took on the Queen. We managed to defeat her by shooting a plasma blast in her mouth and it made her explode – but my artificial tail fin got burned, so I couldn't move out of the way and the huge tail hit us. _

_"H- Hiccup was knocked off of me." _Toothless' voice cracked. _"I managed to dive into the flames after me and shelter him with my wings, but in order to do so I grabbed his leg with my teeth. They couldn't salvage it. They managed to get him to the island by going on dragon-back and he woke up after a few weeks. I was the only one there at the time, and I helped him walk to the door."_

Jaci was silent for a long time, and just when Toothless thought she had fallen asleep, she spoke. _"He took away your ability to fly, and you. . . **forgave him**?"_

_"Yes. I took his leg, and he forgives me." _Smoke curled out of his nostrils, his large green eyes full of sadness. _"I hope I get him back soon. Who knows what those humans are doing to him." _

Jaci closed her eyes, and although the other Night Fury fell asleep a few minutes later, she stayed awake for a long time. This boy was dearer to Toothless than even a hatchling would be to its parent – she had never seen something like it, not even between two dragons, let alone a dragon and a human.

This Hiccup boy was special, and she would do her part to rescue him.

###

The ropes dug into Hiccup's skin as the Outcasts tightened the net and then tossed him into a cell. He hit the hard floor with a groan, but landed on his back, so it felt like nothing was broken. A small knife was tossed next to him. Savage leered at him.

"Have fun getting yourself outta that boy. We're gonna go Night Fury hunting." The burly man left.

Hiccup, with restricted limb room, struggled to get the knife handle, but eventually managed it, and began to cut himself free. He had to get out of here and make a new tail for Toothless. Astrid was still out there, and what he had made her promise at the Kill Ring still stood.

_Astrid, if something... goes wrong, just make sure they don't find Toothless.  
I will._

After a lot of sawing the thick ropes with the dagger, he was finally free and sat up, rubbing his sore wrists. He vaguely wondered where the other dragons were and the other teens, and if the two Night Furies and Astrid were alright. The scrawny boy hoped so.

He knew the Outcasts wouldn't kill him while they still needed him, so he would stand firm in his resolution. He couldn't train their dragons.

"Be safe Toothless," he whispered to himself, staring up at the stone ceiling and wishing he could just see his friends safe and well. "You useless reptile."

He fell asleep hours later.

###

Sunlight hit Astrid brightly in the face. Her vision was blurry, and she blinked it away. Toothless and the female Night Fury were perking up already. She pushed herself into a sitting position, checking that Hiccup's old dagger was still in her boot, but not taking it out due to the untrained dragon.

The blonde Viking went to get up, but winced at the twinge of pain she felt. Toothless saw it on her face and moved over to her. There was a cut on her arm that went unnoticed in the adrenaline, worry and darkness of the night before. Toothless licked the cut. It stung, but slowly the cut faded to a small scab.

"Thanks Toothless." She gave the dragon a small smile and scratched behind his ear plates. The female dragon watched them curiously, Astrid noted.

"It's alright," she said, using Hiccup's words whenever he encountered a wild dragon. "I'm not going to hurt you." She took a few steps forward and Jaci bared her teeth. Astrid stopped moving. "It's _okay,_" she tried to reassure the female. She then realized the dragon could probably smell the metal of the dagger. She reached into her boot and took it out and tossed it a good distance away.

Jaci cocked her head to the side, thinking hard.

_"It's alright," _Toothless told her. Jaci gave him a cautious look, and then slowly moved closer to the teenager. Astrid brightened considerably, and, encouraged, took a few steps forward. Jaci didn't do anything to stop her.

Finally, when they were very close, Astrid stretched out her arm, her palm inches away from Jaci's snout. Jaci ducked under it – she was not going to bond with a human. She was still a Night Fury. Toothless had needed Hiccup to fly – she didn't need anyone, and she wasn't going to let anything like that happen.

Astrid felt disappointment settle in her stomach, but figured it was the best she was going to get out of the dragon. Toothless shot the female dragon an annoyed look, and Jaci growled at him. Astrid took a few steps back, wary, wondering if she had done something to upset the female.

Very quickly, Jaci's head snapped towards the trees surrounding their clearing. There were loud voices. Astrid gasped, happiness swelling up inside of her like a balloon.

"Ouch!"

"Would you stop being such a big baby – jeeze Fishlegs –"

"It's not my fault, these branches are pointy and rough – and we haven't found the others or our dragons and it's been a few days –"

"I'm here, we're _fine _–"

"Fishlegs?" Astrid called, joy creeping into her voice. "Snotlout?"

Snotlout – looking battered and tired – came stumbling into the clearing quickly; she had never been so happy to see him in her life. Fishlegs came too, his fur dress-like outfit caked with mud like a trim. Jaci growled angrily and backed away quickly, stretching her wings.

_"It's alright, they're friends!" _Toothless said hastily. Jaci still kept her distance and continued to growl quietly.

"Are you okay?" Astrid said anxiously.

"Of course we are, I was there the whole time," Snotlout bragged. Astrid was so happy to see them she didn't even roll her eyes.

"Is that a female Night Fury?" Fishlegs asked excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet like a young child. "Fascinating! They're smaller, and slimmer. Ooh, she has blue eyes – is that the same for just the females or –"

Astrid cut him off. "We have bigger problems to deal with; Hiccup was captured by the Outcasts last night. I have no idea where the twins are either."

"What?" Fishlegs frowned, his brow furrowing. "How did he get captured? Ambush?"

Astrid nodded grimly. "There were too many. We were heading into the village at night to try to figure out where everyone was, and they got him and left, saying they would come back for Toothless later."

"So, is there a plan?" Fishlegs said after a moment of silence.

"So far, no," Astrid said dully, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear only for it to fall back into place. She ignored it this time.

Then there were some sounds of two people fighting. "You don't think that's Ruff and Tuff do you?" Snotlout said.

"It could be, there is a large source of water over here – that's why we headed over here," Fishlegs said. He moved towards the noise, yelping and coming back as quickly as possible. "Not Ruff and Tuff! Outcasts!" He was already almost across the large clearing. "RUN!"

Four beefy men broke through the trees, armed to the teeth. Astrid lunged for her dagger and picked it up just in time. Then, the two teens and dragons heeded the large boy's advice and sprinted away, the Outcasts hot in pursuit.

* * *

**Sorry for the delay everyone. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


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